After receiving her BA at the University of Alberta, Sandra
returned to her home town of Ft. Smith with her new husband Don Jaque
in 1973. Don had already started his writing career writing term
papers for desperate students at the U of A for $20 apiece.

They jumped into the newspaper business and started the Fort Smith News and then bought the Slave River Journal in 1973.

Sandra’s responsibilities and contributions were always in
the production and administration areas of the business. Her keen eye
for design, her administrative skills and her sense of community make a
productive combination. She has been the cornerstone of the Slave
River Journal for 30 years and expanded the visual side of newspaper
production to start Cascade Graphics 27 years ago as a sideline to the
newspaper. In her three decades of work in communications and graphics
she has met many newspaper deadline nights – approximately 1400 if one
were to count.

The business was a family one with all three Jaque children
employed at some time in various capacities from paper sales, to
janitorial work, to darkroom processing to newspaper administration,
production and graphic arts. They learned many useful skills as they
matured. Now grown up, they can still be counted on for technical
expertise and down-home common sense advice. But so far they have
declined all offers to assume the business – they say their parents
work "too hard"!

Over the years many talented people have been recruited to
Fort Smith as journalists and graphic artists. They have been trained
and nurtured by Jaque and many have stayed and gone on in other roles
to become valuable contributors to community life. This in itself is
noteworthy, as such talented individuals make a big difference in a
small town.

Don has been a dark room tech, reporter, editor and ad sales
rep at different times, in addition to being publisher and business
manager of his company.  Newspaper people seem to like to juggle as
many balls as possible and Don is no exception. A few years after they
got the newspaper going they started a graphics company, then a
stationery store, then a computer store, then became an Internet
service provider, and then opened another computer store in another
town. Innovation was always a part of their ventures. The Slave River
Journal was one of the first weeklies in western Canada to run an
online version.

Journalism has always been Don’s first love. And guess what
he is doing today? He is back to being editor and reporter and is out
on the front lines taking pictures and writing stories. He is also
Chamber of Commerce president and works on a number of other community
and sport agencies. And he still runs those other businesses.

Don describes journalists as "watchers." He says; "We watch
what goes on and see what people do and we tell those stories. If we
are good, our stories are accurate and interesting. If we care, they
make a difference."

Don’s goal has always been to write good stories that make a difference.